Transcript
WALTER ZWEIFEL - The plan, submitted to the government and the few residents left on the island, shows that the Australian company Avenir Makatea wants to extract and export about 35,000 tonnes of phosphate a year to begin with. Projections are that mining could be sustained for another 27 years and create jobs for a generation. According to the public broadcaster, the company is promising to pay landowners $US600 per hectare a year as well as a commission on the phosphate.
DON WISEMAN - How big an area is being considered?
WZ - The plan is to gradually mine about six square kilometres or about a quarter of the island. People are being told that the mining would be restricted to the zone which had been worked on when large scale mining dominated the island until it stopped in 1966. To note is that those behind the project also promise to rehabilitate the land once it is been exploited. A figure being bandied around is that it would require an investment of about 1.5 billion US dollars.
DW - What is the government's view?
WZ - The stance could be described as cautiously favourable. A strong proponent is the local mayor who sees employment opportunities for people in the Tuamotu archipelago. However, the government in Papeete is more circumspect although it is keen to get investment into a struggling economy with high unemployment. The president Edouard Fritch visited the atoll last week and now says resumed mining and rehabilitation are better than not doing anything. The company's head Colin Randall has said the landowners need to understand that the current value of the land on Makatea is zero and that they can make money from the rehabilitation once it has been mined.
DW - But environmentalists are strongly opposed.
WZ - Yes, there is opposition on the grounds that Makatea is a haven of biodiversity and described as something akin to Noah's Ark. The atoll is different in the sense that it is a raised atoll with huge caves and water reserves. In other words, it is not at risk of sea level rise as so many of the low-lying atolls nearby. Two associations, Fatu Fenua no Makatea and Rupe no Makatea, have been formed to campaign for Makatea's protection and by all accounts the few people left on the island have shown little enthusiasm. There is also an online petition to save Makatea which has been signed by more than 150,000 people.
DW - So where to next?
WZ - The miner says it will carry out surveys to gauge the mood and see how much support there is. The government says its position is the same. This means that it will take some time yet before the government might grant a mining licence.
